After some adventures in playing around with ASP.net 2.0, and using the helpfiles that go along with it , it kind of makes me sick that Microsoft actually get away with releasing such shoddy help files for thier systems. When all thier marketing hype is done and all the adverts have done thier trick and all companies move forward with the New MS dev tool, it is left to us developers to take Advantage of the "productivity gains" that come with the new development tool.
I am a developer with a vast eperience of MS dev tools, and I must say the helpfiles associated with 2.0 have got to be the worst I have ever come across. This takes my mind back to when I have worked with other developers who have turned to MS help files as an absolute last resort in order to get things to work. I have always seen a copy of WROX, Apress, SAMS or a one of million other help resources for MS tools, occasionally I might see a copy of the MS press book too. These are the tools developers turn too to get assistance in thier new "Time Saving tool" and not the help files. I think one of the major contributers to Googles Success has got to developers trowling the internet for some article that will help them in the problem. I often hear the term, "Google it", when somebody encounters a problem with MS kit.
Don't the guys in the MS help files department , have any pride in thier work? Don't they get embarrassed that somebody outside of MS can write better help material than they actually can?
To me the value of a product is it's ease in learning and the assitance it provides in the learning curve, this is something MS never seem to get right, and yet we still use thier tools? Who's the stupid ones here?